Love that Beyonce

I admit to some partiality for girls who rock. Think Debby Harry and Chrissie Hynde or newcomer Ashley Simpson. I prefer them over the R&B divas who seem to be too dressed up and too dependent on image to be real. Hark back to Diana Ross from the past and to Christina Aguilera for a recent example. Still I cannot help but admire the way they look, perform and manage their careers with seeming precision. Of course they do make a lot of hits and I do listen to the songs they make but I wonder more about how they can turn themselves into lucrative industries!

Those are the things going through my mind while watching Beyonce Live at Wembley, the video release of the London leg of Beyonce’s solo international tour late last year. She toured before as a member of Destiny’s Child. This time around she is a bit older, only 20 or 21 years old but has already established herself as a singer, songwriter, producer and even actress. She appeared in an Austin Powers movie and in The Fighting Temptations. See what I mean about becoming a veritable industry. This tour is Beyonce’s first time on her own and she looks and sounds sensational.

Beyonce is one of those girls who were born beautiful and is a sight to behold on stage. She has a face that is sweet and sexy, she has a gorgeous figure and her skin is the color of golden honey. She also moves beautifully and while we have already seen much of her in her music videos, it is still quite a treat to see her go from one song to another in a single concert. A real treat is her medley of hits by Destiny’s Child with songs like Bootylicious, Say My Name, Independent Women, Pt. 1, Survivor and others. She sings a mean Summertime and she makes sure that her audience also gets to enjoy her later works like Crazy in Love, Baby Boy, Me, Myself and I, Naughty Girl and the best of them all, Dangerously in Love.

I know though that most of you are just like me, Beyonce fans who cannot hie off to any part of the world to watch her concert. I have not also heard of even the hint of a rumor that she will be in local parts anytime soon. Soon, she will release a new CD and put together a new act for her next tour. You might be lucky enough to catch that one but I still recommend that you take a look at her dazzling performance in the Live at Wembley video. No matter how big she becomes, she will never be as fresh, as exceptionally talented and as exciting as she was at Wembley.

Available in both DVD and VCD, the package is made up of three CDs. There is Wembley concert on VCD. Then an audio CD with six cuts that includes three new recordings, Wishing on a Star, What’s It Gonna Be and My First Time. The third is another VCD with bonus features about the London stint like a conversation with Beyonce, backstage getting ready for the concert, the rehearsals, a look inside her dressing room, meeting the fans, sightseeing in London, the Beyonce discography, a video of Crazy in Love shot live at The Brit Awards and Beyonce L’Oreal commercial.

Gotcha!

I made a booboo and I’ve got people yelling "gotcha." Lory Alba, Justine Dimabayao and Jaime Gonzales were among them. They sent mails calling my attention to the error. In my piece on Ashlee Simpson, I mentioned that her older sister Jessica is married to a member of the group ‘N Sync. Well, she is not. Jessica is married to Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees. Thanks, guys. I was careless.

On the other hand though, this mistake made me realize that the boy band phenomenon is indeed dead and buried and that ‘N Sync or 98 Degrees are furthest from my mind. Lachey is the reality TV groom of MTV. Justine Timberlake is doing well solo. So are Robbie Williams and Ronan Keating. But what about the others whom the fans could not get enough of only a few years ago? Even Aaron Carter who rode on brother Nick’s coattails on the way to stardom has been sidelined to near oblivion.

As with most trends though, this situation is of course, only temporary. Just watch out. Expect the cycle to begin again the moment that somebody is able to put together a group of young, attractive and hopefully talented boys who can sing. Then the boy band phenomenon will be up and running again.